Railroad car plug door retainer structure



L- W. LEMON 3,474,571 RAILROAD CAR PLUG DOOR RETAINER STRUCTURE 968 2 Sheets-Sheet' 1 ATTORNEYS Filed Jan. 15, 1

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RAILROAD CAB PLUG DOOR RETAINER STRUCTURE I Filed Jan. 15, 1968 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 LUGIEN W. LEMON INVENTOR.

lxfql BY ATTORNEYS United States Patent 3,474,571 RAILROAD CAR PLUG DOOR RETAINER STRUCTURE Lucien W. Lemon, Renton, Wash., assiguor to Pacific Car and Foundry Company, Renton, Wash., a corporation of Washington Filed Jan. 15, 1968, Ser. No. 697,697 Int. Cl. B61d 19/00; Ed 39/10 US. Cl. 49-218 4 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE This invention relates to railroad car side structures and more particularly to such structures designed to accommodate plug-type doors.

Railroad car design is restricted as to permissible car width and height by industry standards such that the upper edge of the car side structure will not extend upward or outward beyond permissible limits. These restrictions become particularly severe when the car side structure design must accommodate a plug-type door such as utilized in refrigerated car construction. This is so because the overhead plug door roller assembly retainer member that is a part of the car side structure must not extend outward beyond the permissible limits and or must not be so positioned that any part of the plug door structure extends outward beyond the permissible limit.

Heretofore, the usual practice has been to design the upper side plate that joins the car roof structure to the side strutcure such that it closely followed the maximum upper edge design limits to achieve the greatest interior car width with an interior height not less than ten feet. Following this practice the plug door roller assembly retainer had to be positioned low enough for the door assembly to be within the permissible design limits, with the result that the doorway height was significantly less than the interior car height of ten feet.

A primary object of the present invention is to provide a railway car side plate structure adapted to receive a roller assembly retainer for a plug type door such that a full height doorway can be provided without reducing the interior car width. Another object is to provide such a structure wherein the retainer is fitted into an elongated pocket within the vertical leg of the side plate.

These and other objects and advantages will become apparent from the following description in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, of which:

FIG. 1 is a side elevation view of a railroad car incorporating the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a cross section detail taken on the line 22 of FIG. 1 illustrating the side plate and retainer structure above the doorway;

FIG. 3 is a cross section detail taken along the line 33 of FIG.1 illustrating the side plate and retainer structure at the door post flange; and

FIG. 4 is a reduced scale edge view illustrating the relative off-center positions of the plug door upper roller assemblies and lower rail-supported wheel assemblies in accordance with the present invention.

Referring to the figures, a railroad car body has a ice roof structure 12 and a side structure 14 joined by a side plate 16, an interior ceiling 18, and an overhead and sidewall insulation space 20 where the car is an insulated refrigerator car. The side plate 16 comprises a horizontal leg to which 'the roof structure 12 is joined, a vertical leg to which the side structure 14 is joined, and an inclined transition section intermediate the two legs. When assembled into the car body 10, the side plate extends the full length of the car body 10.

Beginning at a point over the door header 2 and extending to a point just short of the right hand end of the car as viewed in FIG. 1, the inclined transition section of the side plate 16 is foreshortened such that the side plate vertical leg is positioned inward of its position at either end of the car body to provide an inset into which a retainer 24 in the form of a generally C-shaped elongated channel is positioned. The retainer 24 is attached to the vertical leg of the side plate 16 and to a reinforcing plate 26 that is attached to the side plate vertical leg above the retainer. Over the doorway, the vertical leg abuts the door header 22 and the plug door seal overhead bumper strip 28 as shown in FIG. 2. Beyond the doorway, the lower end section of the inset side plate vertical leg is angled outward and then downward to join the car side structure as shown in FIG. 3.

As seen in FIG. 4, this construction places the retainer 24 inward of the lower door-carrying rail 30, the latter being mounted from the side structure 14. Thus, when the plug door 32 is closed into the doorway as shown in FIG. 4, the lower wheeled carriage assembly 34 will not be in vertical alignment with the upper roller assemblies 36 and the respective cranks arms 38 and 40 that join the assemblies to door-opening common crank shafts 42 will not be in alignment.

By locating the overhead plug door retainer 24 in the side plate inset as above-described, the doorway height can be increased to a full ten feet without sacrifice of interior car width and without increasing the overall external width of the car body beyond acceptable limits.

It is believed that the invention will have been clearly understood from the foregoing detailed description of my now-preferred illustrated embodiment. Changes in the details of construction may be resorted to without departing from the spirit of the invention and it is accordingly my intention that no limitations be implied and that the heretofore annexed claims be given the broadest interpretation to which the employed language fairly admits.

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property or privilege is claimed are defined as follows:

1. In a railroad car having a car body comprised of a roof structure and a side structure, a doorway in the side structure, a plug door assembly adapted to be laterally shifted into and out of the doorway and to be moved longitudinally along the side structure to expose the doorway including a door-carrying rail mounted along the lower edge of said side section and a side plate joining the roof structure and the side structure, said side plate having a horizontal leg to which the roof structure is joined and a vertical leg to which the side structure is joined, the improvement comprising said side plate having an inclined transition section interconnecting said vertical and horizontal legs, said transitional section and a portion of said vertical leg being inset over the doorway and adjacent thereto, and a door guiding retainer mounted in the inset such that the doorway can extend substantially up to the side plate with the overall width of the car body remaining within predetermined limits.

2. A railroad car according to claim 1 wherein said retainer comprises a generally C-shaped elongated channel adapted to confine door guiding roller assembly.

3,474,571 a I 4 3. A railroad'car according to claim 1 wherein the inset References Cited side plateverticalileg above the doorway abuts .a door UNITED STATES PATENTS header, and wherein the inset side plate vertical leg adjacent the doorway extends outward to join the remaining 2,876,504 3/1959 Bennett et a1 49-213 portion of said vertical leg below the retainer. 7 5 3245125 4/1966 Madland 49220 4. A railroad car according to claim 1 wherein said re- 3,339,323 9/1967 Johansson 49-219 XR tainer is inset relative to said door-carrying rail; and wherein said plug door assembly includes a vertical door KENNETH DOWNEY Pmnaly Examiner actuating crank shaft, upper and lower crank arms extend- U S Cl X R ing therefrom, an upper roller assembly mounted by the 10 105 409 upper crank arm and confined by the inset retained, and a lower wheeled carriage mounted by the door-carrying rail. 

